Hiking at Red Rock Canyon

What a cool hike today! The Red Rock Canyon features 200 million years of geology, according to the Gazette. The 5-year-old in our group was searching for seashells after we told her that most of the rock formations we once at the bottom of a sea.

Do you see the artist painting on the right side of the below photo?

There were gorgeous views of the Garden of the Gods to the North (oops, I forgot to take pictures until the very end again). You could also see clear views of downtown Colorado Springs. Red Rock Canyon is located a bit East of Manitou Springs, near Highway 24 and 31st Street.

Now, I am usually the type that begins a hike with a good idea of exactly which turns to make and exactly how long the walk will be. We were joined by a couple teenagers today who would rather explore more freely, which was fine by me because they offered to carry the babies. The only difficulty arose when we had to scale this steep, scary, slippery rock (it doesn't look very steep in this photo, but believe me, it was!). If you'd rather avoid this part, just follow the directions outlined in the Gazette's Red Rock Canyon Geology Loop. It's a 4 mile loop that catches several rock formations worthy of having proper names and gains 600 feet in elevation.

More cool rock formations.

Baby fell asleep in the backpack. She never does that! What a little sweetie.

I loved this hike and will surely return to explore some of the other trails in the area. Maybe next time Baby will stay awake long enough to appreciate it!